The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1887-11-02

Wn1l3 the CLOCK stflkeh ctoFcut tN0Af9,
enc. two, three, four. / give you an
unfniling prescription for wakefulness;
Spend the evening hour srehearsing
your wrongs and the best way Of
avengfng them Hold convention Of
friends on this subject In your parlor or
office at eight and nine o'clock.
Close the evening by writing
bitter letter expressing your senti.
ments. Take from the desk or pigeon.
hole the papers in the case to refresh
your mind with your evenings meanness.
Then lie down and wait for the coming of
the day, and it will come before sleep
comes, or your sleep will be worried
quiescenee, and, il YOU take the precau-
ton to lie fiat on your back, frightfui
nightmare. Why not put bound to your
animosityY Why let your foes come into
the sanctities Of your dormitoryg Why
let these slanderers who have already
torn your reputa ton to pieces or injured
your business bend over your midnight
pillow and drive from you one OF the
greatest blessings that God can offer
sweet refreshing, all-invigorating sleep.
Why not fence out your enemies by the
golden bars of the sunset? Why not
stand behind the barricade OF evening
cloud and say to them: THUS far and no
farther"
Many man and many woman is hay
ing the health of body as well as the
health Of soul eaten away by a malevo
lent spirit l have in time of re-
lgious awakening had persons night
after night come into the inquiry room
and get no peace of soul. After awhile
have bluntly asked her: SIS there not
some one against whom you have
hatred that you are not willing
to give up?" After little confusion she
has slightly whispered, Eyes" Then
said to her "You will never find peace
with God as long as you retain that viru-
lence."
A boy in Sparta, having stolen a fox,
kept him under his coat, and though the
| fox was gnawing his vitals, he submitted
to it rather than expose his misdeed.
Many man with smiling face has I'M
der his jacket an animosity that is gnaw-
ing away the strength of his body aud the
integrity of his soul. Better get rid of
that hidden fox as soon possible. There
are hundreds of domestic circles where
that which is most needed is the spirit Of
forgiveness. Brothers apart, and sisters
apart, and parents and children apart.
Solomon says a brother offended is
harder to be won than strong city. Are
there not enough sacred memories of your
childhood to bring you togethery The rab-
bins recount how that ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
son had such spite against his father
that after he was dead he had his father
burned TO ashes, and then put the ashes
into four sacks and tied them to four
eagles' necks, VIII ch fiew away IN opposite
directions. And there are now domestic
antipathies that seem forever to have scat
| tered all parental memories to the four
winds OF Heaven. How far the eagles ny
with those sacred ashes! The hour OF sun
| down makes to that family no practical
| suggestion. Thomas Carlyle, in his biog-
| raphy of Frederick the Great, says the old
King was told by the confessor he
must be at peace with his enemies
| If he wanted to enter Heaven. Then
he said TO his wife, the Queen: write
to your brother after | am dead that
J. forgive him." RoloH, the confessor,
said: "Her Majesty had better write to
him Immediately" NO." said the King,
after | am dead; that VIII be safer" 80
| he let the sun of his earthly existence go
down upon his wrath.
| Again: We ought not to allow the sun
| to set before forgiveness takes place, be.
cause we might not live to see another
| day. And what If we should be ushered
| into the presence OF our Maker with
! grudge upon our soul? The majority of
| people depart this life in the night. Be-
tween eleven O'Clock p. IN. and three
! O'Clock a.. m. there is something in the at
mosphere which relaxes the grip which
the body has on the soul, and most of
people enter the next world through the
shadows of this world. Perhaps God may
have arranged It in this way SO as to make
the contrast the more glorious. l have
| seen sunshiny days in this world
that must have been like the radi-
ance of Heaven. But as most people leave
the earth between shutdown and sunrise,
| they quit this world at its darkest, and
Heaven, always bright, will be the bright.
or for that contrast Out of blackness into
irradiation. Shall we then leap over the
roseate bank Of sunset into the favorite
hunting ground of disease and death,
carrying our animosities with US? Who
would want to confront his God, against
whom we have all done meaner things
than anybody has ever done against us,
| carrying old grudgesg How can we ex-
| pect His forgiveness for the greater when
| we are not willing TO forgive Others the
| less? Napoleon was encouraged to under
| take the crossing of the Alps because
| Charlemange had previously crossed
them. And all this rugged path of for.
| giveness bears the bleeding footsteps
| Of Him who conquered through
suffering, and we ought to be
| willing to follow. On the
| night Of our departure from this life into
the next, our one plea will have to be for
mercy, and ii will have to be offered in the
| presence of Him who has said:
II you forgive not men their trespasses
neither win your Heavenly Father forgive your
trespasses-
| What sorry plight if we stand there
| hating this one, and hating that one, and
wishing this one damage, and wishing
| some one else calamity, and we our
selves needing forgiveness for ten thou
| sand times ten thousand obliquities OF
| heart and life. When our last hour comes
we want it to find us alright. Hardly any
| thing affects me SO much in the uncover